A pilot for the condor
by Kai Aquila
Summary: The Storm Hawks crash land on Terra Merbia after a fight with the cyclonians. They ask the Merbs for help and meet Stork, a extremly paranoid genius who in return wants to fly the condor one time. After, they want him as their pilot, will he accept?
1. Chapter 1

Summary: The Storm Hawks crash land on Terra Merbia. They pay the Merbs a visit and ask for their help. They meet Stork, a extremely paranoid Merb who is a absolute genius when it comes to repairing things. In return for his skills, he wants to fly the Condor one time and when the Storm Hawks see, that's he's a awesome pilot too, they want him for their Crew. Will he accept the offer?

Disclaimer: I don't own Storm Hawks.

Authors note: This is my attempt at how Stork came to travel with the Storm Hawks. English is not my Mother language so there will be a lot of mistakes, I'm sorry for all of them and I'll try my best at fixing my skills or rather lack of for that matter. Reviews are greatly appreciated. The story is written from Aerrows point of view most of the tie. If you've seen the episode 'origins' and don't want anybody to mess around with Storks past, you shouldn't read this because I'll change it completely.

Chapter one: Crash landing

Aerrows POV

As soon as the Condor stilled, we all sighed relieved. We got caught in a storm and were all happy, to see a Terra under us. Piper gave her best to land us relatively safe, but the Condor was damaged badly. Nobody of us knew how to repair it. So Piper packed out one of her maps and looked on which Terra we were.

"We're on Terra Merbia!" she exclaimed after a while of searching.

"Isn't that were the Merbs live?" I asked her.

"It is." She confirmed.

"Good, I hope they have some food, I'm starving." commented Finn.

I raised an eyebrow.

"We just got out of a huge storm, the Condor cannot even fly anymore and all you can think of is food?" Piper moaned, looking irritated.

Finn shrugged.

"So what?"

Piper groaned.

"Nothing Finn." She turned back to me. "So, what should we do now?"

I scratched the back of my head.

"Maybe the Merbs will help us. We should pay them a visit, don't you think?"

"And why should those green-skinned ugly creatures help us?"

Finn didn't seem to be keen on meeting the Merbs.

"Finn! You can't be so racist!" cried Piper.

"I'm not racist, I like Junko and he isn't human too." Finn defended himself.

"We'll go to the Merbs." I decided, determined to not have any more arguments.

We left the Condor were she was and followed Piper to a mountain with a little cave at the bottom.

"We're there!" informed them Piper.

They all looked doubtful at the small entrance.

"Piper, are you sure?"

"Yes."

She seemed offended by my lack of trust in her.

"So the Merbs all live in that tiny cave?" Finn questioned disbelievingly.

"It's probably much bigger in the inside. I've heard that most Merbs don't like to go outside their tunnels." suggested Piper.

A person appeared out of the blackness of the hole. In the light we could see that it was a he. His skin was a pale shade of green and lean. The black dots in his yellow eyes mustered us for any threats. When he found none, he smiled slightly more content and came towards us.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?"

His voice sounded old and a bit wary. As if he was afraid, we would turn out as cyclonians any moment.

"We're the Storm Hawks and because of an accident we had to crash land here. We wanted to ask you for help, our ship is damaged and we can't fix it." I explained.

He considered this and than smiled more brightly.

"Of course we'll help you. Come, join us for dinner, it starts in a few minutes. Then we'll talk about the rest. I'll guide you." He offered kindly and we walked in side the cave behind him.

I'd just stepped trough the slit when Junko groaned miserably from behind me.

"Aerrow?"

"What's the matter?"

I turned around.

"I'm stuck."

Junko was too big to go trough the narrow slot. One leg was outside and the other one in. His upper part of the body was locked between the stone walls. Finn pushed from outside, so I grabbed one of his arms and pulled. Piper took the other and together we managed to get him in. Unfortunately he landed on me and Piper with Finn on his back. Junko grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry."

After we got back to our feet we continued walking and soon the tunnel got wider. Then we arrived in a large hall. In the middle there was a long table which was already set. It was surprisingly warm here. But that was to be expected with cold-blooded creatures living here. Everywhere were candles and that gave the grey stone walls a almost nostalgic flair. We sat down and glanced around. Slowly more Merbs started filling the room and started chattering about diseases and how to cure or better avoid them. As they noticed us they eyed us suspiciously and continued talking about what illness we could possibly carry. As soon as everyone was there, the Merb who brought us in stood up. The chattering stopped and they waited for an explanation for our presence.

"These," He motioned to us. "Are the Storm Hawks. Their ship is damaged and so they had to land here. They are our guests as long as it takes to fix it. Stork?" His eyes wandered over the many Merbs to find the one he was searching for. "He's our best mechanic you have to know." He whispered to me.

I saw a young Merb in the farthest corner go rigid like someone had just told him he would die tomorrow. His skin was light green and he had lanky black-green hair which was falling over his right eye which was slightly twitching.

"Y-Yes?" he asked uncertain.

"Would you please see to it, that their ship will be repaired?"

"Y-Yes, of course."

He didn't seem too thrilled by the idea and returned his gaze to the plate before him he hadn't touched until now.

"And Stork?"

He looked up.

"Stop stuttering." advised our guide.

Stork sank back into his chair as if his life would end now. I watched him trough the whole meal. He didn't eat anything, just sat there and shoved all of his food neatly on one side of his plate and sighed several times. After the dinner some of the Merbs began cleaning up the dishes while the others went back to their quarters. Stork waited for us at the tunnel that led out. When we got to the Condor Stork swallowed and looked at her like she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"She looks good, doesn't she?" I questioned him and he nodded eagerly. "Come, I'll show you the machine room so you can check on what's wrong with her." I offered and he followed me into the ship still in awe. "Here's it."

Stork stepped into the room and glanced around. Then he turned back to me.

"So, what's wrong with her?" he asked offhanded.

"Well, we can't steer her anymore, she doesn't react and the engines aren't working properly too." I informed him.

He nodded once more and bent down to look at the cable tangle.

"I guess your shields don't work either?" he questioned.

"I don't know, we haven't used them since our little encounter with the cyclonians." I answered truthfully. "I'll ask Piper." I turned on my intercom. Piper should be at the bridge at the moment. "Hey Piper, do our shields work?"

"No clue, I'll check them." She said and a few minutes later:" No, they don't."

"Uh-hu, thought so." mumbled Stork to himself, already screwing on something.

"Thanks Piper." I turned the intercom off and watched Stork starting to repair whatever damaged had been caused to the condor.

"How long exactly will this take?"

"If I don't detect further damage I'll be finished in the morning, but seeing as your ship is one big rag rug it'll more likely be until the next evening." He replied, not even bothering to look up. "Go ahead, leave, I can handle this on my own."

"Oh, OK."

I returned to the bridge.

"What about exploring surroundings? Finn? Junko?" I suggested.

They nodded happily.

"Piper?"

"I'd like to stay here, I just don't feel comfortable with leaving the condor under the care of a total stranger." She said.

"Are you sure? Stork doesn't seem like the guy who would steal the condor as soon as he gets the chance to." I argued.

I liked Pipers company.

"Yes, I'm sure. Have fun."

She waved after us when we left the condor.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Storm Hawks.

Authors note: This is short, but I thought it was a good place to cut.

Pipers POV

After the others left I took out some of my maps and started calculating our new course. Then I went to the machine room to look how Stork was doing. He was kneeling in front of the mechanism for the shields, mumbling things I couldn't hear.

"How are you doing?" I asked uncertainly.

He jumped startled.

"Sorry, I didn't want to frighten you." I excused hastily.

After he recognised me, he went back to work.

"Your Converter doesn't function like it should, I'm still trying to fix your problem with the shields and I haven't taken a look on your engines yet, but judging from the condition everything else on this ship is in, I will have to do that also." He answered, his left eye twitching.

"You can have a break and continue tomorrow morning, we have nowhere to be and you could use some sleep." I proposed.

"No, no, I'm perfectly fine. But if you don't mind you could bring me a coffee."

"I will. Milk or sugar?"

"Black."

As I turned and left I heard him muttering:" What's coffee for, when it's not black?" It seems like our mechanic was a born-and-bred coffee-addict. When I returned with his coffee a few minutes later I caught him yawning, with dark circles under his eyes, like he hadn't slept in days. He downed the cup and resumed to repair whatever he was currently on to.

"Are you sure you don't want to sleep?" I asked again.

"I told the redhead."

"Aerrow, he's our leader." I interrupted.

"I told your leader," he corrected himself. "I'd be finished in the evening. If I go to sleep now, I won't be finished until then."

"Aerrow's not going to throw a fit you know. Normally we would need weeks to repair one little thing and you are afraid that he will be angry at you for taking two days to fix the whole ship?"

He shrugged and returned to mend the machines. I shook my head and went to bed.

Aerrows POV

We returned after two hours of exploring to find Pipers asleep and Stork were I left him.

"Hi, we're back!" I greeted him.

He shrieked appalled.

"It's just me." I calmed him.

Man, I've never met someone so easily frightened. But I've also not encountered many merbs before. They all seemed a bit wary.

"So, how is it going?"

"The Converter doesn't function like it should, I'm still trying to fix your problem with the shields and I haven't taken a look on your engines yet, but judging from the condition everything else on this ship is in, I will have to do that also."

It sounded like he had said that already to someone. Maybe Piper asked him. I stood there a while and watched him, when I realised he wouldn't chat with me, I left. The next day we exercised our usual duties. Aside from Piper bringing him his coffee, we didn't see Stork at all. Late in the evening Stork finally came out of the machine room. We looked up from what we were doing to find out, why he paid the bridge a visit.

"I'm finished." He told us impassively.

Finn, Piper and Junko cheered happily.

"That's great!" I exclaimed.

"I'd have a way for you to repay me."

I blinked.

"Repay you? We never talked about that." I said.

"So you just assumed I'd do this for nothing? Hardly." He replied.

I scratched the back of my head.

"What do you want?" I asked him slightly nervous.

A smile flitted across his face.

"Can I fly her? Just one time?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"You want to fly the Condor?"

Stork nodded eagerly. He looked like an excited child under the Christmas tree.

"Well, sure, if that's what you want." I complied.

He grinned and spurted to the helm.

"Hey, I thought you Merbs never left your tunnels. How do you know how to fly?" complained Finn.

He was obviously scared of having another crash-landing. Stork started the engines.

"I've always been interested in it." He explained, then, the condor took off.

"But are you sure you can handle the Condor?"

"Yes, I'm sure; after all, I'm not called a genius for nothing."

Finn didn't seem very convinced.

"Hey, Finn, he did repair the Condor and so far it hasn't fallen from the sky, what else is there to want?" Piper blandished Finn.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Finn admitted.

"Besides, I'm tired of having to steer and staying up all night, because nobody else can." Piper whispered to me.

"Can I take it you want him in our Crew then?"

We both looked at the skinny Merb in his ripped jeans and the loose shirt that had fixed an entire ship within two days and was apparently able to fly it. Yes, we definitely wanted him in our Crew. But did he think so too? I padded him on the shoulder. He squeaked.

"Could you stop sneaking up on me?"

Stork held his hand over his chest.

"Yes, sorry. Piper and I have come to the conclusion that we would like to have you as our carrier pilot. Do you accept?" I offered him.

Now everyone was staring at me. Storks left eye was twitching again, Finns pupils scampered disbelievingly between me and Stork, Junko was also a bit confused by the sudden turn of actions and Piper was the only one, who found her nails more interesting then my back.

"You really would take me as your pilot?" Stork asked incredulous.

"Yeah, we don't even know him!" interrupted Finn.

"That'll come in time and yes; we really would take you, if you want to. What do you say?"

"Yes!"

"No!"

Piper and I glared at Finn.

"What's your problem?"

"We just met him!"

"So what?"

Finn looked at me defiantly, but under my intense glare he hung his had and threw Stork a last dark glance before leaving the bridge.


End file.
